On the anniversary of his assassination, local civil rights leaders remember Dr. King

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – April 4th, 1968 marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination and many in the community are commemorating his accomplishments including several civil rights activists in Macon.

“He was an educated man, had an earned doctorate degree and he could express himself and he wasn’t scared. That made us all a little braver because of him. He inspired us all,” said activist Herbert Dennard.

Though it’s a somber day for many remembering Dr. King’s death, civil rights leaders in Macon say his life and the legacy he left behind was inspiration to keep the movement alive. His words changed hearts and made history.

“He was the civil rights movement. He was the undisputed head of the civil rights movement in this country,” said former Judge William Randall.

His peaceful approach moved others to stand and fight by his side.

“I had been in the March on Washington in ’64 and I also was in the march from Selma to Montgomery in ’65,” Randall said.

50 years after his death, activists on the front line of the Civil Rights Movement in Macon still remember the moment they heard the news.

“Dr. King was doing so many things and it inspired all of us. I was shocked. I was devastated,” said Dennard.

“I remember the March on Washington and all of us gathering around that little black and white TV,” former Mayor C. Jack Ellis told 41NBC.

“We just sat there in silence for a while, and then I got up and I just lost it,” Judge Randall continued.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination didn’t stop the movement, but instead pushed it forward.

“When Dr. King was assassinated that was our defining moment,” Dennard said.

He was one of several demonstrators arrested for refusing to leave a whites only gym–formally the YMCA that later became the Macon Health Club.

“We decided that if Dr. King could die for us, then we needed to stand up. So, sometime after April the 4th, about a week or two later, 10 of us walked through this door and wouldn’t come out and they arrested all 10 of us,” he continued.

King’s tenacity above all else and example made his legacy one that will never be forgotten.

Dr. King died at St. Joseph’s hospital in Memphis, Tennessee just days before the United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

King has several roots in Georgia from giving his very first speech in Dublin to attending school at Morehouse College in Atlanta.